Live look at Lakers practice this morning

[cincinnatikid513]

Lakers could potentially get Lebron, AD, Westbrook, Kyrie and Durant. I can see that happening.

too many cooks in the kitchen

[Buckandadime]

It is an old team and Davis can’t be counted on but Lebron, Durant and Kyrie is a tough out for any team. I don’t want to see it in LA but the door is a bit opened.

I get what you're saying but do you think 3/5 could become team players in that lineup?

[Mr KLC]

This was a classic tweet.

[KVB]

Seriously though and to hopefully inspire someone to think more about their ratings rather than rankings, Lakers are just below avg in 2 pointers but a disaster in 3 pointers.

Here's a graph from my office that looks like info overload, but not really...



Blue column is 2 point %, red column is 3 pt %, the green column is the difference and we use that in a few ways as a ratio. It can be ignored for now.

I made all the lines graphs overlayed thinner so it's easier to see, but I don't know if it's actually easier. The green lines are the league medains, which are basically the same as the means.

The yellow lines are the standard deviations, up to two on both sides of the mean.

So you can see that the Dallas Mavericks are more than 2 standard deviations above the league in 2 pt %.

The Lakers are close to the mean in 2 pointers, but below 2 standard deviations of the league in 3 pointers.

Denver nuggets are almost 2 SD's above the league in 3 point percentage but are pretty much the same as the Lakers in 2 point percent.

This is per game and as the season progresses we can use this same data per 100 possessions, or any factor for that matter, to assess the current relative strength of the shooting.

We can make the same graph for the defense, or each teams opponents percentages. What each team gave up.

This can be done across many stats and is a way to generate comparisons, not to each other, but to the league. And then you campare teams.

Part of the methodology before we get into how to use derived data in regressions.

Here's the same chart, per game, for the 82 games of last season...




OK City with a terrible season last year and has begun this season with some 2 pt % improvement.

Hopefully you can see these charts to some useful level but the main point is that when comparing teams we can use medians, and rate teams, instead of just ranking them, by their distance from the medians as well as using standard deviation.

One last chart....



The columns are overall FG percent (axis on the right) while the red line just connects each team at their respective FG Attempts.

So the Brooklyn Nets are more than 2 standard deviations above the league average in FG% (2's and 3's combined) while they are one standard deviation BELOW the mean on FG Attempts.

Like the Dallas Mavericks, the Percentage Shooting is high relative to the league, but their attempts are low.

Lakers, on the other hand, take quite a few shots relative to the league, with a low percentage. Note that in this last chart we do not show the median and deviations for shooting percentage, just for FG Attempts.

What do you think of the NO Pelicans? We can glean more in the per 100 possessions stats but we need the season to progress to tighten that down.

There's quite a bit there, but the info can be useful in the NBA. We don't just use stats in regressions, we use derivatives of stats, as I mentioned above.

This gives an idea of what that actually means.

[IBetYou]

^^^ Lots of injuries for the Pels so far. Just got Ingram back.

Doncic is different this season; really has cut down on his 3PA.

edit: averaging about 36 & 9 & 9 !

[KVB]

Pelicans chucking up some shots, but making them.

Doncic still a scoring machine, he's the third player ever to start a season with 7 straight 30 point games. He's in company with Wilt.

[Mac4Lyfe]

The Lakers are worse than I thought. It's Lebron, AD and good/bad Westbrook. The rest should not be on an NBA roster. Good grief where did they get some of these players? They could not hit a fukking shot. Lebron should just retire. This can't be fun and it's not going to get any better. I think Schroeder comes back in a few weeks. Maybe they can steal Kyrie next year?

[Bostongambler]

The Lakers are worse than I thought. It's Lebron, AD and good/bad Westbrook. The rest should not be on an NBA roster. Good grief where did they get some of these players? They could not hit a fukking shot. Lebron should just retire. This can't be fun and it's not going to get any better. I think Schroeder comes back in a few weeks. Maybe they can steal Kyrie next year?

They are done. I said it last season. Addition of Beverly, Ryan , etc…. Just ain’t going to do it

[asiagambler]

Lakers were very clutch missing shots and cashing the under 221.5 after a 66 point 1st quarter today

[Mac4Lyfe]

They are done. I said it last season. Addition of Beverly, Ryan , etc…. Just ain’t going to do it

Maybe when they get Schroeder? Not sure he'll make any difference though. You have to surround Lebron with great shooters and this is one of the worst shooting teams in the history of the NBA. Unreal.

[KVB]

Lakers were very clutch missing shots and cashing the under 221.5 after a 66 point 1st quarter today

They scored as many points in the whole second half as they did in the 1st quarter...36.